Take a Breath & Debrief - Round 24

[Palmybulldogs]

Let it out Dogs fans. Outside of the first quarter and the last 10 minutes, that was arguably the worst performance of the year and in a season defining game. To say I’m disappointed nowhere near covers it, just a poor poor effort all-round. And in the end, almost identical to the round 4 game against them


Elephant in the room is yes, we’re technically still in the 8 but I give Essendon about a 0.01% chance to beat the Suns. Would be great but being a realist, it ain’t happening.


So I’ll write this like it is over. On paper, missing finals does look like a failed season and I get it, I really really do and part of me does agree. I feel like we’re wasting Bonts best years and with our star players we should be contending for top 4 and premierships not barely scraping into, or barely missing finals year after year.


In saying that, missing finals with the record we have is insane, 14 wins and 137% in any other year would comfortably be in finals, just a weird year. To prove how crazy it is, in the top 8 era, no team with 14 wins has ever missed finals. Even outside of the top-8 era it’s the equal most wins ever to not make finals. Also wild to me knowing that our biggest loss ALL season was just 22 points.


Ultimately came down to three points, the injuries at the start of the year that arguably cost us wins, is what made the difference in the end, plus the inability to not close out and beat any top 8 sides (not named GWS). And finally, our defence, particularly on transition all year really hurt us.


We were competitive all season, as mentioned earlier, 22 points being our biggest loss proved that we were in absolutely every game, just couldn’t get over the line enough. I have full faith (maybe wrongfully) that with natural improvement as well as some injury luck, we can definitely be a top 4 side. Some defensive recruits and system restructure would be wonderful too


There’s plenty more that could be said about this game and this season but maybe I’ll save that post for later in the offseason. Makes me sick to even say these words but… CARN THE DONS

[Bornadog]

I know some are going to say it shouldn't matter, but with injuries this year we were forced to play a younger team than we have in the past.

We had 10 players with less than 50 games yesterday and arguably some shouldn't have played, but we didn't have anyone banging the door down to get in.
Croft, O'Donnell, Cleary, Freijah, Jones, Garcia, all have potential, but they are raw and have played less than 40 games. Compare that to Freo, with just 4 players with less than 50 games.

We have relied on too few players this year to get us over the line and when they are held, we haven't had many step up.
Yesterday the backline talls struggled and didn't take many marks and were also sucked into following their man down the field and leaving the back 50 empty, so it was easy for Freo to move the ball quickly and get us out the back. Freo completely flooded our forward line ,which made it hard to score.

A disappointing day, but Freo were the better side with a better mix of players.

[Palmybulldogs]

I know some are going to say it shouldn't matter, but with injuries this year we were forced to play a younger team than we have in the past.

We had 10 players with less than 50 games yesterday and arguably some shouldn't have played, but we didn't have anyone banging the door down to get in.
Croft, O'Donnell, Cleary, Freijah, Jones, Garcia, all have potential, but they are raw and have played less than 40 games. Compare that to Freo, with just 4 players with less than 50 games.

We have relied on too few players this year to get us over the line and when they are held, we haven't had many step up.
Yesterday the backline talls struggled and didn't take many marks and were also sucked into following their man down the field and leaving the back 50 empty, so it was easy for Freo to move the ball quickly and get us out the back. Freo completely flooded our forward line ,which made it hard to score.

A disappointing day, but Freo were the better side with a better mix of players.

Yep definitely! Something that really stuck out in Bevo’s press conference was that the Dogs were a low pressure rating side this year and the transition defence being an issue. I’ve thought all year that those two elements were super important system elements for winning a flag that we weren’t doing. Hearing Bevo essentially say that’s going to be a focus gives me faith that we’ll see significant improvement next year.

[Mantis]

Yep definitely! Something that really stuck out in Bevo’s press conference was that the Dogs were a low pressure rating side this year and the transition defence being an issue. I’ve thought all year that those two elements were super important system elements for winning a flag that we weren’t doing. Hearing Bevo essentially say that’s going to be a focus gives me faith that we’ll see significant improvement next year.

This isn't his first rodeo, and this isn't the first time our ability to defend the ground has been questioned.

I'm frankly sick of the excuses.

[Jasper]

Thanks Palmy, just what I needed to read.
Not having Bont and Darcy for a period of time probably cost us at least one win.
Not having Weightman, Ugle-Hagan and of course Treloar also would have cost us.
It was a very good season for a lot of reasons but I'm filthy on the way we capitulated yesterday.
I'm not buying the lack of experience aspect that gets mentioned after losses especially when we picked our best team for the game, and we just weren't up for the challenges in the 2nd quarter.
Thats got nothing to do with a perceived lack of experience, a lack of height or anything else and we just lacked the ability to control things for enough of the game.

[Palmybulldogs]

This isn't his first rodeo, and this isn't the first time our ability to defend the ground has been questioned.

I'm frankly sick of the excuses.

Fair enough to have that opinion, I think they were surprised to see how much Liam Jones form had fallen away. We were the best defence in the competition in 2024 so to see it fall away this badly from really one different player is horrific. Not all down to the players, the system is broken too but we really need to bring in a ready made key defender and should be doing everything in our power to make it happen. Defence wins premierships

[Palmybulldogs]

Thanks Palmy, just what I needed to read.
Not having Bont and Darcy for a period of time probably cost us at least one win.
Not having Weightman, Ugle-Hagan and of course Treloar also would have cost us.
It was a very good season for a lot of reasons but I'm filthy on the way we capitulated yesterday.
I'm not buying the lack of experience aspect that gets mentioned after losses especially when we picked our best team for the game, and we just weren't up for the challenges in the 2nd quarter.
Thats got nothing to do with a perceived lack of experience, a lack of height or anything else and we just lacked the ability to control things for enough of the game.

Yep, I think without context it’s so easy to call it a failed year but we did have enough wins that would usually play finals, I don’t think we had any excuses for yesterday, we had our best 22 basically available, minus 1 or 2 that missed the whole year anyway. And it came down to the same problem we’ve faced all season. I don’t think it’s as simple as well just be better next year, a lot of gameplan tweaks need to be made to sharpen our defence but it’s not like we need to overhaul the whole list and structure just improve it a little bit and it could go a long way

[bulldogsthru&thru]

We're not seriously blaming injuries are we? We had one of the healthier lists in the back half of the season and if anyone thinks Marra, Weightman and Treloar would have stopped the 2nd quarter meltdown then I don't know what you've been watching the last few years.

[GVGjr]

Yep, I think without context it’s so easy to call it a failed year but we did have enough wins that would usually play finals, I don’t think we had any excuses for yesterday, we had our best 22 basically available, minus 1 or 2 that missed the whole year anyway. And it came down to the same problem we’ve faced all season. I don’t think it’s as simple as well just be better next year, a lot of gameplan tweaks need to be made to sharpen our defence but it’s not like we need to overhaul the whole list and structure just improve it a little bit and it could go a long way

I see a lot of positives in the season but when you sit back and look at things there is a significant scope for improvement we need to remedy and yesterdays game highlighted it.
From a youngsters perspective, Freijah and Cleary showed a bit, despite his talents Darcy has so much to learn, Davidson is close to being around the mark and A.Jones needs to build from here.
If you use the 50 game rule, that I don't rate, then Baker still showed a lot and Garcia was found wanting. Croft was productive and Busslinger was poor.
Richards didn't perform like we should expect from him. McNeil had a shocker. Lobb had his worst game in a long while.

Our senior players didn't delivery like they should have and ultimately the club has to assess the fitness and coaching to see what can be improved.
The trade period is going to be vital for us.

[mjp]

I know some are going to say it shouldn't matter, but with injuries this year we were forced to play a younger team than we have in the past.

We had 10 players with less than 50 games yesterday and arguably some shouldn't have played, but we didn't have anyone banging the door down to get in.
Croft, O'Donnell, Cleary, Freijah, Jones, Garcia, all have potential, but they are raw and have played less than 40 games. Compare that to Freo, with just 4 players with less than 50 games.

We have relied on too few players this year to get us over the line and when they are held, we haven't had many step up.
Yesterday the backline talls struggled and didn't take many marks and were also sucked into following their man down the field and leaving the back 50 empty, so it was easy for Freo to move the ball quickly and get us out the back. Freo completely flooded our forward line ,which made it hard to score.

A disappointing day, but Freo were the better side with a better mix of players.

Freo were the youngest side in the top 9 and 4th youngest overall.

Please don't go down the 'young and developing' road.

[ArsenalFC]

Season over, to be honest i'm still dealing with how we finihshed last year because i'm still looking for closure.
Last night, whilst at the game we didn't seem to pick up the ground ball, we'd spoil and Freo was away. Same with most ball ups and center bounces. I thought Timmy tapped the ball into all the wrong places. I looked through the stats this morning and i can't believe he actually won the taps. Something not right. Its not Tim's fault, he battled as he always does.

Massive shout out to the following players, whilst not expecting to drive our momentum, i thought they provided excellent energy. - Barker, Jones, West, Croft.

Whilst we may be unlucky ending on 14 wins with a top four percentage, we can't help to keep the glass half full based on what the future holds. I'm expecting a turn-over of fringe/unwanted players. JUH, Garcia, Buku, Poulter, Jones, Gardiner, Scott.

[Palmybulldogs]

We're not seriously blaming injuries are we? We had one of the healthier lists in the back half of the season and if anyone thinks Marra, Weightman and Treloar would have stopped the 2nd quarter meltdown then I don't know what you've been watching the last few years.

Not blaming injuries for this loss at all. Stating that earlier in the season the injuries to key players could’ve cost us 1-2 wins which ended up being the difference

[Sedat]

This isn't his first rodeo, and this isn't the first time our ability to defend the ground has been questioned.

Yep, we took a big step backwards in our ability to defend the entire ground from last year. I don't think the excuses about Duryea and Jones hitting the wall really fly - good teams plan in advance and have depth on all lines ready to come in as players start to pass their peak. If I was being hyper-critical about our list management with regard to key defenders, Jones was a 5% Hail-Mary chance (how many 33yo who are out of the game for 12 months succeed) that worked beautifully for 18 months, Lobb was a last roll of the dice for a player recruited as a 2nd ruck/forward. And JOD, who still has his limitations, was a Cat B rookie throw at the stumps. We drafted Buss but nothing else really.

Massive off-season for the entire club and especially for Bevo. We need to get proactive and ruthless, because the rest of the competition won't stand still and will get better.

[Palmybulldogs]

I see a lot of positives in the season but when you sit back and look at things there is a significant scope for improvement we need to remedy and yesterdays game highlighted it.
From a youngsters perspective, Freijah and Cleary showed a bit, despite his talents Darcy has so much to learn, Davidson is close to being around the mark and A.Jones needs to build from here.
If you use the 50 game rule, that I don't rate, then Baker still showed a lot and Garcia was found wanting. Croft was productive and Busslinger was poor.
Richards didn't perform like we should expect from him. McNeil had a shocker. Lobb had his worst game in a long while.

Our senior players didn't delivery like they should have and ultimately the club has to assess the fitness and coaching to see what can be improved.
The trade period is going to be vital for us.

100% agree. And I think as highlighted by Bevo we have a very offensive minded midfield group which looks great when they’ve got the ball. But when they don’t it looks horrific and we get torched the other way far too often. Particularly against strong defensive teams like Freo where we couldnt get scores on the board

[Bornadog]

Freo were the youngest side in the top 9 and 4th youngest overall.

Please don't go down the 'young and developing' road.

Yesterday or for the season?
Yesterday we were younger. What I am saying is they had a better-balanced team in respect to games played than we did. They had a very good mix of players in the 50 to 200 range ie 18 players. We had 10 in that range.

Why can't people actually blame the playing group - whether they are either not good enough, not tough enough, not experienced enough - we had many yesterday.

A few times I was so disappointed in guys like Davidson who either refuse to tackle, go in hard or just stand back. I know he is an outside player, but some one on ones was pathetic. There were others that were the same.